The defensive front gets the call here, and fits a need, too. Division rivals Tennessee, Jacksonville and Houston all like to run the ball, and with big, powerful backs. Lawrence ups the power ratio to combat those attacks.

Matt Eberflus transformed the Colts into a good defense in 2018. To go from good to great, Indy needs to add a few more pieces. Jerry Tillery has an explosive first step and his raw strength coupled with effective hand usage makes it incredibly difficult for offensive linemen to sustain blocks. He's a constant disruptive presence in the backfield on both run and pass plays and displays good awareness. He has unique size (6-foot-6), is impossible to move off spot, and has the power to regularly collapse pocket. If he can play with more consistency Tillery could end be one of the biggest surprises of this class.

Mississippi State defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons is considered a top talent along the defensive line, but he suffered a knee injury in February.(Photo: Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports)

The Colts' defense improved exponentially last season compared to what they put forth in the years before, but they still need to improve their defensive line and cornerbacks. The best available player at the position is Jeffery Simmons. Granted, Simmons may not be able to play in 2019, but he has top-10 talent and would be worth the risk at this juncture.

Simmons also tore his ACL recently, but he's a top-10 talent, so someone could give him a chance in the opening round.

With the exception of fine-tuning his route-running and cleaning up some drops, Hakeem Butler gives Indy a bona fide weapon that likely makes Andrew Luck salivate. Will the Colts blow our minds and trade up? Doubtful, but Ballard never says "never" on the subject.

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Tillery has been a force for the Fighting Irish all season.
Jordan Guskey, IndyStar

The Colts add a hard-nosed, versatile safety who can play aggressive in the box or cover tight ends down the field. The Colts' roster is pretty strong, but adding a possible tone-setter like this should improve a defense that also added Justin Houston up front but otherwise didn’t do a ton in free agency.

A very mature dude and ferocious hitter who can be a tone setter, he'd likely remind the Indy faithful of Bob Sanders while forming quite a safety tandem with center fielder Malik Hooker.

MMQB at Sports Illustrated: Two votes for Simmons, one for edge rusher Rashan Gary of Michigan, one for WR N'Keal Harry of Arizona State and one for WR Marquise Brown of Oklahoma

Albert Breer on Simmons: Chris Ballard is coming off a generational draft in 2018, and was able to effectively patch up the team’s biggest needs in free agency — adding Devin Funchess at receiver and Justin Houston as an edge rusher — which allows the team to go get a guy who would be, perhaps, right there with Bosa and Quinnen Williams on tape alone. But an ugly incident in high school and torn ACL are part of the file here, of course.